The Beatles were fans of Psycho and Bernard Herrmann’s music prior to the Fab Four’s explosion onto the music scene. And Herrmann was a fan of the Beatles before their 1964 invasion of America. While he was recording with a symphony orchestra in London, Herrmann got wind of a sensational new rock group that was playing to wild audiences in Liverpool. He made his way to The Cavern Club, where the Beatles played 292 engagements from 1961-1963, and caught himself a case of Beatlemania, much to the surprise of the serious musicians back in London. While in Liverpool, he met the Mop Tops backstage and they couldn’t believe the good fortune of getting to know one of their musical idols. As posted previously, Paul McCartney and producer George Martin later modeled the staccato cello in Eleanor Rigby on Herrmann’s strings for Psycho.

Eleanor Rigby was released in 1966 on the Beatles’ album Revolver. Herrmann followed their meteoric career with interest and met up with them again in Hollywood, where they marveled at how far the band had traveled since Herrmann ventured from London to Liverpool circa 1961 to catch their gig. Many of Herrmann’s serious music friends still couldn’t understand what he saw in them.

The Knight Foundation is posting our Bernard Herrmann Facts, as well as all kinds of other interesting arts information: http://www.knightarts.org/community/stpaul/waiting-for-wuthering-heights-from-facts-from-the-minnesota-opera

You might want to check it out. The foundation is also the sponsor of the very successful “Random Acts of Culture” campaign, most famously the Youtube sensation of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus with the Opera Company of Philadelphia  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU It has over 7.2 million hits.